Hard day's night
by tiltingaxis
Summary: A day in the life of the Hudsons. Written for Finchel-Prompts


**A/N: Written for Finchel Prompts. I'm on a roll here. LOL. Set in the Vignettes verse.**

**Prompt: "Mommy it hurts!"**

* * *

><p>Sometimes when he's too tired, all he wants to do when he gets home is to toe off his shoes and throw himself, facedown, onto the bed. Like today, for instance, where he'd just gone through the most confusing paperwork of his life and traffic had been a bitch. He was stuck in his car for almost an hour with nothing but Lily's soundtrack to Fairytales with Barbie, which had been lodged in their radio for almost a week now. At one point, he was sure that strangling himself with the tie he had thrown on the passenger seat earlier was preferable to listening to <em>one<em> more song about Cinderella, or the incessant honking that was happening outside.

Needless to say, when he did finally arrive home, Finn's mood for the day had been shot to hell.

From behind their apartment door, he can hear the damn mermaid singing about wanting to be part of the world._ Let her try driving through the streets of New York for a day and see how she feels after that_, he thinks sourly as he pushes his key into the lock. He tries to tell himself that at least it's Disney, and Disney's songs are better.

He hears the gasp from inside as he turns the key and smiles faintly as the tv grows quiet, substituted by the sounds of tiny footsteps running towards the door. Lily pulls it open before he has the time to, and he's greeted with a pair of six year old arms wrapped tightly around his right leg.

"Daddy's home! Mommy, daddy's home! Dad, dad, guess what Starla did today?"

He grins, easily picking his daughter up with one arm as he enters his house, closing the door with one foot, his briefcase in the other hand.

"Hey Liliput," he says, leaning to kiss her cheek as she goes on and on exuberantly about Starla, her imaginary friend, who apparently adopted a pet unicorn from Ponyville that she's now hiding under Lily's bed. He's pretty sure she's talking about that pansy-looking purple unicorn Rachel insisted she would love when they went to Toys 'R' Us last week.

"Daddy he can fly!" she exclaims excitedly, throwing her hands out and almost hitting him square on the nose.

"Whoa there," he says as he evades her. "He can? Is he taking you and Starla on an adventure?"

"Yeah, she promised to take me to Ponyville with her, 'cause he gets lonely sometimes," his daughter continues seriously. He hears that familiar musical laughter behind him and turns to find Rachel leaning against their bedroom doorframe, grinning at them.

"Did you tell daddy his name?" she asks Lily, smiling up at him as she mouths the word _hey_. He grins and walks towards her, leaning forward to plant a kiss on her forehead as Lily starts to launch excitedly into the topic of the unicorn again.

"Hey babe," he whispers over their daughter's squeals. She smiles and leans up to kiss him softly before Lily starts to pull impatiently against his collar.

"Daddy!" she says impatiently, pouting her signature Berry pout. "You're not listening to me!"

"I am, I am," he promises as Rachel laughs.

"It's Finn."

"What is?"

"His name. Starla wanted to call him Finn, because he's a boy and because that's the best boy name ever."

"She did?" he asks, amused as he sets her down on the couch in front of their television, Rachel trailing behind them with his briefcase and tie in hand. "She called the purple unicorn Finn, huh?" he continues, ruffling her hair, not at all phased by the emasculation of his name. He's pretty used to it by now. Her pink elephant is 'Finn' too.

He sighs as he finally sits on the couch, feeling the stress of the day settling in his bones and taking its toll on him. He's so exhausted, and he thinks that if he never gets up of the couch again, life would still be fine with him. Lily jumps off the couch, running into her room to find 'Finn', and he pulls his body up so that he's lying on it.

"Bad day?" Rachel asks sympathetically as she looms over him. He groans, barely able to nod his head as she runs one soft hand over his forehead. "Poor baby," she teases, before she gently slaps his leg.

"No shoes on the couch," she reminds him.

"Cant. Move." He groans, pretending that his legs are cramped up. Which, actually they kind of are a little. He grins as she rolls her eyes and pulls them off his feet.

"You're spoiled rotten Finn Hudson," she nags. "And your feet stink."

"You love spoiling me," he mumbles teasingly, sighing as he wiggles his toes, finally free of those damn shoes. She laughs at that, pulling off one sock and throwing it in his face. He doesn't even budge.

"Keep telling yourself that," she says as she walks back to the head of the couch and kneels next to his head. "You owe me a spa day for this," she jokes as she gently kneads the muscles on his shoulders. He groans blissfully and buries himself deeper into the couch.

"How about a free bath and shower package? I'll give you the full treatment."

"You wish," she answers, snorting. "That's part of the spa day package. I still want my facial Hudson."

"Daddy!" Lily yells from her room. "Daddy, come watch me!"

"Maybe later Lil," he yells back, not wanting to move from the couch, or from the magic Rachel's hands are weaving on his body. He groans again as she presses on a particularly strained knot and looks up at her, a dopey smile on his face.

"I don't know why you decided on being a Broadway legend baby, you would have made it big as a masseuse."

"It's the Tonys Finn," Rachel replies without missing a beat, her hands moving down to his chest. He takes them in his and pulls her a little closer. "It's all about the Tonys," she continues softly as he pulls her down and pushes himself up to kiss her. She starts to pull away, but he moves his hand to the back of her neck and deepens their kiss.

"I see someone's feeling better," she whispers, giggling against his mouth.

"It's your hands. They're magic."

"Mmhmm. In more ways than one," she replies suggestively, her fingers nimbly unbuttoning his dress shirt.

"Lily-"

"Is talking to Starla. It's a _very_ important conversation. It's going to last for fifteen minutes at least. Come on," she continues, pulling him up by the hand. He complies, letting his tiny wife drag him to their bedroom, grinning. The day is definitely looking up.

They're halfway there when a loud crash and a stunned yell stops them in their tracks. Rachel's head spins around and they stare at each other in surprise before they hear what is unmistakably, the sound of Lily sobbing.

"Lily!" they exclaim, as Rachel runs and he follows behind her closely.

"Baby, what happened?" Rachel starts as she nears the door, only to stop short with a dramatic gasp. He almost bowls her over, stopping just in time. He turns towards the open door and finds Lily on the floor, crying her poor little eyes out, papers and crayons everywhere as 'Finn' lies motionless a few feet away. Lily looks up at them, her eyes red and puffy as Rachel rushes over to her.

"Mommy, it hurts!" she whimpers, and that's when he notices it. His little girl's arm, twisted at an odd angle on her side. His vision starts getting cloudy with black spots as Rachel gasps out his name in a panic.

"Finn, Finn! Oh my God. Lily, Lily don't cry honey, it's gonna be okay. _Finn_!"

He snaps out of it, looking down at Rachel who looks like she's near hysterical as she looks at him for help. _Pull yourself together Hudson_. He kneels next to his daughter quickly, attempting a reassuring smile when she stares tearfully back.

"Okay Liliput," he says soothingly, rubbing her back to calm her down. "Tell me where it hurts. Your arm?" She nods, looking down at it, her lips quivering. "Okay, it's okay. Anywhere else? Your head? Your leg? No?"

Okay. Okay. It's just a broken arm. He's broken his arm countless times, and various other body parts too. It's no big deal. But oh God, look at the way it's bent though. Can he move her? Can he just pick her up, or is that going to make everything worse? Oh _God_. He needs to get her to the hospital.

"Daddy," Lily whimpers, inching herself closer to him.

"We have to take her to the hospital," Rachel says urgently and he nods, sliding his arms under his daughter's knees and back. He moves to stand up and Lily cries out in pain at the sudden movement.

"Sorry," he says quickly, gripping her a little tighter as he stands. She's crying again, big six year old sobs as Rachel tries her best to soothe her.

"We're going to take you to the hospital, okay Liliput?" she says, her voice gentle and soft, calming his erratic nerves. She reaches into his backpocket for his car keys and he follows behind her numbly, watching as she grabs their jackets and heads quickly for the door, all the while soothingly trying to calm Lily down.

xxx

They make it to the car in less than three minutes and Rachel is in the backseat with Lily, softly singing 'Catch a Falling Star' over and over as her sobs turn into quiet little hiccups. He's about ready to pull his hair out of his head because the drive to the hospital should take only fifteen minutes, and it's been almost ten and they're barely halfway there. The traffic starts to move and he presses the pedal a little harder, his grip on the steering wheel so tight he can feel his nails digging into his palm. A car almost blindsides him, or he almost blindsides the car, he's not sure which since he hears the angry honk behind him.

"We're almost there Champ," he says, trying to sound calm as she starts to cry yet again. He pulls up at the Emergency entrance and practically jumps out of his seat and runs to throw the back door open, gathering Lily up in his arms, quickly running into the hospital with Rachel not far behind him.

xxx

The hospital is filled with people, and he taps his foot impatiently after half an hour, waiting for their turn. Lily's sitting on Rachel's lap, tears streaking down her face as Rachel keeps singing, and for the love of God, can't they see that his kid is in pain?

He stands up for the tenth time and walks over to the receptionist again, ignoring the exasperated expression on her face.

"How much longer?" he demands.

"One more, Mr Hudson, and I promise it's your turn next."

He frowns and walks back to his family, sitting down next to Rachel as he crosses his arms, his foot tapping nervously against the linoleum floor. He feels her placing her hand on his thighs, squeezing gently. He turns to find Rachel, eyes a little bloodshot, smiling reassuringly at him over their daughter's head. He sighs and takes her hand, interlocking their fingers together, his nerves calming down a little as she brushes her thumb against his knuckles.

"I'm sorry, daddy." He turns to look at Lily in surprise. Her head is burrowed against Rachel's chest, her mom's hand running gently through her long hair, and she's wearing an expression that could only be referred to as guilt.

"What are you sorry for Lil?" he asks, smiling at her. She sighs and looks up at Rachel, who's probably wearing the same befuddled expression he is.

"I- I just wanted to follow him. Finn wanted to fly, and I just wanted to follow him. I shouldn't have jumped off table. I'm sorry." He sees her big brown eyes fill up with tears again, and his heart constricts a little. This wouldn't have happened if he'd just gone up to her when she called him. But no, he'd refuse to get his ass moving and now Lily's at the hospital with a broken arm and it's all _his_ fault, really.

"It's okay honey," Rachel speaks up when he's still looking at his daughter in surprise. "We're not mad at you. We're just worried is all."

"Yeah," he speaks up, leaning forward and using his free hand to wipe her tears away. He grins at Lily. "We're just gonna stay here for a while until the doctor makes you better, and then we'll go for some ice cream, okay kiddo?"

Her face lights up at that, and Rachel squeezes his hand again.

Where the _hell_ is the doctor?

Xxx

"She's going to be fine Finn," Rachel tells him, running her hands down his back as he waits for Lily to get her X ray done. He shakes his head as he leans against the wall. He's kind of a wreck. He thinks it's coming as a surprise to them both, since she's generally the one who freaks out over things. How is she so calm anyway?

"How are you not going crazy right now?" he asks her, amazed. She looks up at him, her face contemplative as she thinks of an answer.

"I don't know," she says after a while. "I think you took my role before I could get in character," she teases.

"I'm serious Rach. Our daughter just _broke_ her arm and I'm a mess, and you're being so super calm right now. I mean, you've been singing to her all evening and you've been holding my hand too."

"I'm kind of awesome like that." He laughs as she wiggles her eyebrows jokingly, feeling the tension finally give way as she reaches out and wraps her arms around his torso.

"She's going to be fine," he says, gripping her tightly. She nods against his dress shirt.

"I know," she mumbles against his chest.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he says softly, leaning down to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

"I know that, too."

Xxx

His kid is a total trooper.

He watches as Dr Cooper sets her cast and she's been so awesome, barely crying at all. She looks up from where she's sitting and smiles at him, that small gap between her teeth visible. He grins back. Rachel's talking to one of her nurses about her meds and he's been keeping her company, just in case she cries. But she smiled at the doctor and barely made a sound when Dr Cooper moved her arm around to get the cast right.

Inexplicably, he thinks of all the hospital trips he had to take with his mom. Two hairline fractures, one broken wrist and four sprained limbs. The first time he came out with a cast, he'd fractured his arm, jumping off a tree. Puck had dragged his crying ass home to his mom and he'd yelled the whole drive to the hospital (He was seven, okay? Sue him). His mom was a total boss, she didn't break a sweat once, even if it was just the two of them all those times. He thinks of Rachel earlier, and how calm and in control of everything she was being. Maybe it's just a mom thing.

Maybe it's just a Supermom thing.

"We're all set," Dr Cooper says. Finn shakes his hand and Lily says a polite thank you when the man hands her a lollipop.

"How're you feeling Liliput?" he asks as he takes hold of her good hand and they walk out into the hallway.

"Good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Can I draw on my cast?" she asks, her eyes lighting up at the thought. He laughs as he nods his head.

"You can, just as long as you don't start scratching it."

He learned that the hard way.

"Good. Finn's gonna sign it. He's going to put his sig- sig- he's gonna write his name there, just like mommy does on people's clothes. Oh! Daddy can we go for ice cream now? Can I have chocolate? Can we buy one for Starla too? Can _she_ have chocolate?"

Xxx

Lily's got ice cream all over her face as she digs into her double scoop of chocolate fudge gleefully. The extra scoop is for Starla. They're letting it slide this time, because she did break her arm after all. He watches as Rachel laughs at Lily's story, their daughter using her good arm to avidly describe a dream she had.

Lily won't stop showing him Rachel's signature on her arm, and that sharpie drawn star next to it. She tells him it's prettier than his drawing, which was supposed to be Finn the unicorn, but looked more like an odd outline of a dog with a horn on its head. He's pretty sure all that sugar means she's going to be bouncing off the walls for hours.

It's been a pretty rough day.

But Rachel's leaning against his shoulder and their daughter's eyes are shining as she tells them that _nobody_ else in her class ever got a cast before, chocolate ice cream dripping from her spoon as she forgets it in her excitement.

He's pretty sure there isn't anywhere else he'd rather be.


End file.
